New Rules Revealed For ASOIAF:TMG – The Bolton Overhaul

Over the last week and a half, one of the lead developers for the ASOIAF: Miniatures Game has been teasing some new changes to the rules over on Facebook. Most of what they have shown is for the much anticipated overhaul to the Bolton faction, and these changes are massive. We are going to take a look at these as well as others and provide some feedback on the design choices. 

What’s Happening?

One of the lead developers of the game for many years, Michael Shinall, is releasing some playtest documents in the ASOIAF Facebook group as an insight in the development process for the upcoming mid-season update. We know from the Hits and Crits video that the update has been delayed due to issues with CMON internally and this might be a way to give the game some love this year since nothing else will be releasing until 2026. Thus the only thing new for ASOIAF in 2025 will be the Season 6 update that came in March. 

Whilst the new cards may be the final design the developers go with for the next update, Michael has stated that these cards are not final and may change depending on feedback and more playtesting. Another big point he mentions is to not compare too much with other things in the game right now due to our lack of context on other changes. Either way it is worth discussing the changes and providing constructive feedback so that the game can be made into the best version of itself for the community to enjoy. 

Stark Sworn Swords – Mid and Last Rank Dice Increase, Go Down Fighting and Winter’s Fury Rework

Previously, the Stark Sworn Swords would go from 7 dice to 5 dice after losing their first rank; this is now to 6 dice, followed by 5 dice instead of 4 when on their final rank. Their melee attack switched the two buffs around, so now you get rerolls on the midrank and +1 to hit on the final. Go Down Fighting received a small buff for when the unit is engaged by multiple targets at once, which is unlikely to be too often but is a nice change. 

These changes are very good for the unit and might make them one of the better 5pts units in the game, especially when combined with some attachments. They may be too good for 5pts, but we are looking at them through a vacuum with little knowledge on the rest of the roster and the other factions. I am nervous about the high activation lists since Stark Sworn Swords are important for that. I am also concerned about the two Karstark units which feel outclassed in some ways by the Sworn Swords. 

I do think the unit was becoming a backbone of infantry lists and they certainly cemented their position more with these changes. But without some reworks to popular units like the Tully Cavaliers or any Umber unit they may not see a lot of play or be the star of the lists. 

Umber Berserkers – Last Rank Dice Increase, Morale Increase and Sundering Gained

Umber Berserkers saw their final rank go from 9 dice to 10 dice and gained Sundering for their melee attacks. There are also some nice wording changes on Berserker’s Fervor to add in symbols for an easier understanding. Furthermore, the morale stat went up by one and is now a 4+. 

Umber Berserkers have a unique playstyle where you want to play them on a knife’s edge. Keeping them as injured as possible without losing them rewards you with a powerful unit on the tabletop; however, it is how powerful they become which is a point of concern. There is no unit in the game as strong and survivable as Berserkers on their final rank, and it will take more resources from your opponent to shut them down then it takes for the Stark player to use the Berserkers. 

On paper these are far too strong for 6pts and has us stepping back in time to when the game was hyper lethal and decided on who kills who first like a game of Call of Duty. The developers changed the game to be less lethal and we have had years of strategy being the winning factor of the game rather than list building deciding it. Whilst there have been fumbles at certain points and most have been from a hyper lethal unit or strategy, the developers have been quick to reduce this. I hope they recognise this with this unit now in the playtest state before it hits the table. 

That being said, we are looking at the unit on their own. Are other units now changed to be just as lethal? Have other units become tougher to kill warranting these changes? Is it harder to keep Berserkers alive on their final rank due to changes to higher attack dice or healing in the faction? On top of this, it is one thing to judge the rules on paper, but it is another to see them play on the table. These might feel different when you face them or use them. It is tough to know for sure, I just hope the developers are not making a mistake here. 

Bolton Overhaul

On day one of the Bolton mini-faction’s release, they have been needing an overhaul to their rules due to how terrible they were in comparison with the entire game. They have been consistently the worst faction in the game even performing weakly against Neutrals who have been considered not much of a faction by corners of the community. 

Bolton players have been waiting years for the changes to their rules to bring them up to scratch and it looks like the time is approaching. Every single unit and some characters have been changed and shown off with a possibility that we might see some more in the coming weeks. But, is it enough?

Tactics Cards – Base Deck

One of the main problems with the Bolton force was their tactics deck being limited. You had to be engaged or force your opponent to fail panic tests before you could use some of your cards, which might not even be useful at that moment. You would then be stuck not being able to move through your tactics deck for benefits in the game. Baratheons had the same issue a few seasons ago where they couldn’t utilise their deck, as you couldn’t trigger the cards. 

CMON have recognised this and completely changed the faction design from a focus on panic tests to a focus on condition tokens, which will be a powerful change for them. Harsh Punishments, Cruel Methods and Bloody Beheadings are gone, while the rest have been reworked.

Fear Keeps A Man Alive – Some small changes here. The range of the heal is now short range instead of long range, so you want to play your forces together to get the most out of this otherwise the unit that did the panic test is getting the heal. One nice thing is that you get an extra wound on the heal if your Commander is nearby. It is always nice to have a heal in your deck and there should be plenty of opportunities to use it since most units have Vicious in Boltons. The range change is likely there to keep the power of the card under control since some factions have healing cards that define the whole game. 

Sadistic Games – Mainly changes to wording on this one to clean up the card for ease of use. The tokens have changed slightly and now it offers weakened or vulnerable instead of more panic tokens which you should have plenty of. Considering the faction is all about meddling with tokens, this care will be crucial for furthering that playstyle just like how Adaptive Methods works for Neutrals. 

Horrific Reputation – This card is wordy and difficult to understand off the rip. I had to read it a few times, and I imagine many opponents will need to do the same when they see it being played. Essentially, it makes an enemy unit suffer a panic test when it activates. But if it is engaged with a friendly unit, it suffers it at -1 per rank in the friendly unit and instead of rolling dice it is a wound for each remaining rank. You can for sure clean up this card to make it easier to understand. But for the most part, it is Spread Fear/Horrific Visage in a less restrictive situation. 

Flay Them All! – This is similar to Bloody Beheadings in that you play it when you destroy a rank, and then deal out panic tokens to all enemy units in long range apart from the one you just dealt the damage to. Bloody Beheadings did the same thing but it made the unit you attacked panicked, and if any unit in long range was already panicked they would take a panic test. Furthermore, if you killed the unit instead of the rank, all enemies in long range become panicked and take a panic test, regardless of whether they were panicked already. This card was very strong, and needed to be toned down for the new version of the faction as a whole. 

Cruelty and Cunning – This card is all about increasing the amount of wounds an enemy takes from a failed panic test. You do one more for the card, plus one for vulnerable, plus one for weakened. Remorseless Examples was the only card Bolton’s had to increase panic damage but you needed to kill a unit, place down a piece of terrain, and then have another unit fail another panic test to get an extra wound. This was replaced, but now there is a card that gives you some extra damage without risk of not getting any benefit. 

A Flayed Man Has No Secrets – Slight clean up of wording, no new changes here. However, there will be far more tokens in play for you to utilise this card, which is really good for Boltons. 

Our Blades Are Sharp – Same trigger, so you must be in combat and before rolling dice to use this card. Instead of Precision and then rerolls if your opponent is panicked, you now get rerolls and can spend a condition token to gain Sundering for the turn. It seems like this card merged with Harsh Punishments for the best version of a combat boosting card. It also has a lot of play for almost all units whilst needing any token to get the full effect. A very good rework for the card giving it more opportunities to be played. 

Overall the changes are very good for the faction. More tokens, more opportunities to play, and above all some more ways to synergise your army. Already people are discussing how to do max wounds on a panic test with Cruelty and Cunning, or how to trigger more Spread Fear tests with Horrific Reputation. It is nice to finally see some ways to build strategies in the army rather than just adding buffs to some failed morales. This is a stronger base deck for the force and should give them some extra bite against the rest of the game. 

Units

The Bolton roster sees some universal changes that I am curious about with some much needed support. Instead of everything being Bolton Something, they are now Dreadfort Something; perhaps this is to differentiate the Neutrals from the Boltons? One thing I hope is not happening is that Neutrals lose access to the Bolton units they have. Further to this, Bloody Mummer units are getting Bolton-specific cards so that the roster is expanded without taking up Neutral allowances. It is nice that Bloody Mummers may be getting some love in a specific faction; I just hope some of these changes are also in Neutrals. 

Dreadfort Cutthroats – Small nerf to this unit; however, it was and still is a strong 5pts unit. The big impact would be if it also changes for Neutrals as it was a 5pts option that a lot of people across many factions would consider. The midrank loses a dice going to 5 dice, and you no longer gain rerolls for your melee attack if the opponent hasn’t activated. You do now get Prey On Fear which has changed for the better. Instead of healing two wounds from a failed panic test you heal the same amount that was dealt. So with some synergies from abilities and tactics cards, this could be a large amount. You get out what you put in with this unit. 

Dreadfort Archers – A pretty big change to the ranged attack of this unit, which is a nerf. Instead of Precision and rerolls when shooting an engaged enemy, as well as ignoring line of sight, you gain Vicious and can put a vulnerable token on the attacker if they are engaged before rolling dice. In addition, after rolling attack dice you may reroll if they have a token on them. The biggest issue here is that without the ignoring of line of sight you are unlikely to generate the token on them, unless you managed to remain 50% aligned with your unit or it’s a bigger target like Cavalry which has a slightly bigger tray. You don’t have solos to utilise and so may have to coax the combat into a certain way that plants you in the flank. If they kept the ignore line of sight ability then they would be better than Skyreach Bowmen, which a lot of people say should be nerfed. 

Dreadfort Spearmen – This was a unit that was not that great and did not see a lot of play outside of a specific combination. Whilst Impaling Spear was creatively excellent it was just not performing and the unit suffered from this by being relegated to the dusty shelves. Two things changed with this unit. A universal change to Set For Charge which no longer has it as an order but a constant ability, in addition you can now trigger it in the rear. At first glance this doesn’t make sense since all the models point their spears forward, but it could represent times when spearmen make a circle of spears to ward off cavalry charges. It is a good change that negates a negative part of the rule that almost never happened anyways. 

The second change is to Impaling Spear. It no longer relies on a rank being destroyed to generate a token but instead relies on a failed panic test to generate a weakened token. Previously this was hard to do since they were the only unit without Vicious in the force, but they gained this in the new version. Now you have two 5pts units that are Vicious with decent attack, but one is more aggressive and relies on healing from failed panic, and the other is more defensive relying on protection from a failed panic. They have a place in the faction now! 

Dreadfort Blackguard – Biggest glow up of the faction has to be the Blackguard. They are a stunning unit that were becoming a strong pick for both Neutrals and Boltons, but now they may be an auto include. All ranks increased their dice by one to make them a 7/6/5 unit whilst also increasing their hit to a 3+. They gained Precision to go along with their Vicious, and their morale increased to 5+. Furthermore, Horrific Visage is now when an enemy engaged with them performs an action and not just a melee attack, so there is no more retreating away to avoid the panic test, however you will avoid it on the charge which is different. This is a lot of buffs and so the cost is now going from 6pts to 7pts. 

Unlike with the other units, I hope this is a purely Bolton faction change to make the unit more unique under their banners. However it is an incredible change that makes them very strong going forward; tough to kill and much more deadlier. We spoke earlier about how the Berserker’s increase in damage may be due to some other aspects of the game becoming harder to kill and this is a good example of that. A lot of attachments didn’t really like being in this unit since it wasn’t good in combat, but now they can take this to a whole new level. I am scared of what Bolton players might be able to do with these. 

Dreadfort Flayed Men – The unit that has been reworked more times than Carlo has won events. Flayed Men lose their Critical Blow on the charge and the Intimidating Presence ability. Replacing these is Precision, a small increase in morale and full rank attack dice, and the new Spread Fear ability. Spread Fear is no longer an order, so it can happen as many times as the engaged enemy fails a panic test, more opportunities for synergies. However, instead of causing a panic test on another unit that is long ranged with modifiers and extra damage, it now generates panic tokens. It feels a lot more like a nerf than a buff, but you can synergise this a little bit with the army such as Our Blades Are Sharp to gain rerolls and Sundering on the attack. I do wonder if for one point less you bring Hedge Knights though. 

Dreadfort Bastard’s Girls – Morale increased from a 5+ to a 3+. It is not a huge change, but it will mean any negatives to this morale is now unlikely to do anything, whereas before it would have. The unit is already a great choice in many factions since it is also a Neutral unit. 

Bloody Mummer Zorse Riders – Zorse Riders are really strong at the moment for their fast movement, and their glass cannon attack that removes abilities and can be quite devastating in the flank or rear. They have changed a lot with how you may use them now, I am not sure for the better since they were a good utility piece before to get around defensive capabilities which is now passed on to the slower less deadly Skirmishers. Their full rank attack dice went up by one, Motley Armaments changed to gaining a keyword plus an additional keyword for each condition token on the enemy unit (Critical Blow, Sundering, Vicious), and they lost Elusive Escape for Harassing Maneuvers which generates a vulnerable token in short range after completing a maneuver. They keep the general theme of being fast, easy to kill, and hit hard. It is just a shame we lose the remove abilities that made them so unique. 

Bloody Mummer Skirmishers – A huge rework for this unit, they lost all three of their abilities and lost a dice on the final rank. In return, they gained the Skirmisher ability which prevents any charge bonuses like rerolls, and if they are unengaged when they activate they can rotate any facing (weird wording there). Their melee attack now strips the opponent of their abilities, and after attacking it can make a retreat resulting in all enemies engaged becoming weakened. When using this unit their defensive abilities never shone enough to keep them alive and balance out their terrible defensive stats, the changes may actually do enough to keep them around whilst they dish out some damage. The attack is nothing crazy but removing abilities is very strong, I would be looking for an attachment that boosts their melee attack. These changes will see the unit being played more. 

Overall these are all positive changes that make the Bolton faction better little by little. We won’t know the true scale of how good the faction is until the players bring all the tools together onto the battlefield. We do also need to consider that these are not final and could change further but I think for the most part it should be wording in some places and that is it. 

Characters

There are a few issues with characters in the Bolton faction which has restricted what they are capable of. They only have one 2pts attachment which results in the free attachment points not always being spent to get the most out of list building. This would also mean Ramsay would not be taken as a Commander or NCU that often due to him being taken in a unit to cover this. Furthermore, Flayed Men have generally been the meta for the Boltons with some lists bringing two of them and there are no attachments you can bring for free. With Flayed Men being less impressive and other options looking better, we may see more opportunities for more attachments. 

They also only have three Commanders to pick from since the Neutral Commanders were taken away from every faction, and as already mentioned Ramsay was hardly ever taken. Roose was the best, with Steelshanks being a rogue choice with his own small fan club. But it is a weak offering for leaders. 

Roose Bolton – Roose has always been a control Commander and the changes keep this theme running. He has had a complete rework to make him more unique since he was just a Bolton Flayer and Dreadfort Captain combined. He now has Calculated Cruelty which allows you to spend condition tokens on the defender when making a melee attack for some benefits such as Sundering, stripping abilities, or preventing the opponent from using tactics cards. All of this is a very powerful ability for combat. 

Intimidating is another new ability which acts like the old Spread Fear in some ways. When an enemy in long range activates, you force them to make a morale test at -1 per rank in this unit, if they fail they become weakened. This is not an order and so can be used as many times as enemies within long range of you when they activate. It is also not a panic test so you can’t drum up an ungodly amount of panic damage. It is quite strong and might need to be toned down if he sits in a bunker like the new Blackguard. He is very scary as a Commander now and we haven’t even checked his Commander cards. 

Whispered Threats – This card is mostly the same, except it can now generate all three tokens rather than just two. It still triggers if a NCU (or council unit as they are now called) claims a zone. So the opponent can choose to not put the council unit on the board resulting in you not getting tokens but the opponent loses the council unit and the board effect. Plus, the tokens now play into the faction identity rather than being a cool bonus for choosing to play Roose. 

Dreadfort Secrets – This card used to be about making units panicked and could only be used when an enemy rank was destroyed. Now it is all about messing with the opponents tactics hand by spending tokens for effects. If you spent one the opponent discards a card at random, if you spent two from the same unit then you look at the hand and choose the card to discard, plus they play the rest of the round with their cards revealed. This is an incredibly powerful card and is the first one in the game that keeps the opponent’s hand revealed to you. It is a really cool thematic card and gives you the knowledge to play around what your opponent is thinking up. 

Cold Regards – Seeing Their Flaws is gone and is replaced with Cold Regards. Seeing Their Flaws was always a weird one as you wanted Roose in a good combat unit or even a shooting unit, but his abilities made him belong to the Blackguard which are neither. Some were bringing Steelshanks who counts as Roose for a better opportunity for this card but it was mostly there to generate tokens and move on. Cold Regards change this for some free hits like Hidden Traps but extra hits are generated if you have condition tokens and/or you are near Roose. It is two hits, plus one pre token, plus one if you are in long range of Roose, for a max of 6 hits which is incredible. 

Roose has changed a lot and is going to be an annoying control Commander. One of the best aspects to him is how many tokens he is dealing out whilst still being able to keep up the damage on his own or from his cards. The tactics cards manipulation is thematic, fun, and strong, which is a brilliant combination to achieve. I love the rework. 

Ramsay Snow and Reek – I am confused by the developers’ statements here about whether this is the Commander version or not since the Bastard of Bolton title is the Neutral Commander version not the Bolton version. I am guessing this is the Commander version we have been shown since it comes with his tactics cards.

That being said, whichever one they are, it is a complete rework. The Commander had Horrific Visage and Prey On Fear but these have been replaced for the order Incite and a new ability Sadistic Exhilaration. Incite has lost Vicious but kept highest attack dice for the melee attack, but comes with the caveat of suffering unblockable hits for every one you roll. The 5pts units would appreciate this the most but it is not really that good of an ability, however when partnered with Sadistic Exhilaration you gain rerolls for your attacks as long as the defender is panicked. Reek is the same. Nothing crazy but let’s check the Commander cards. 

Skin Collection – The card has had a rework but mostly stays the same. You attach it to a unit, and then once an enemy unit has been destroyed, those engaged with the, suffer -1 to panic tests. This used to be able to go up to -2 if the unit it is attached to had destroyed two ranks but not anymore. Instead, if it is attached to Ramsay’s unit they do +1 additional wound for failed panic tests. So it is Intimidating Presence on a card that activates once an enemy unit is gone. I think this is better overall and makes Ramsay’s unit more threatening whilst slightly buffing another if you get both out. A big positive though is that it is useful at any point in the game as you do not need to hunt for benefits late game. 

Spoils in Flesh – This card is a version of Fueled By Slaughter which appears on his NCU and attachment variant. The wording has been updated so that you do not need to destroy a rank to gain the benefits of healing. Rather you heal one, plus one for each destroyed rank, plus another if it is Ramsay’s unit. Just a nice healing card to help keep your forces in the game. 

Broken Playthings – Opportunist is gone, and replacing it is Broken Playthings. The developer said they wanted less generic tactics cards and some more unique ones. Instead of buffing combat, this card now helps the faction identity by generating some more tokens. You can replace a panic token (which you could have generated from Reek on the previous start of turn trigger) with a weakened and vulnerable token. But if it is within short range of Ramsay, you can remove condition tokens from Ramsay. A very good card that is a better version of Adaptive Methods. Albeit with some restrictions. 

The changes make Ramsay Commander all about Ramsay. He gets the most buffs and the most help wish showcases the character’s selfish nature. Whilst you can dish out some of the benefits to others, it won’t be as good as giving it to Ramsay and this makes it super thematic. I love the rework for him. 

Vargo Hoat – We do not know if this is a Commander Vargo or an attachment Vargo, and we have not seen any Bolton tactics cards for him. It seems more like his attachment version since it is mostly the same. Vargo lost Vicious, and both Weakened Resolve and Sadistic Mutilation saw some changes. Weakened Resolve had some wording changes to help know what is targeted but remains the same. Sadistic Mutilation has the same wording changes to include some targeting clean up, whilst also offering two unblockable hits instead of killing an attachment. So if there is no attachment or you don’t care for it, do two unblockable hits. 

A much stronger version of Vargo who is likely going to be joining the Blackguard to dish out weakened tokens from Horrific Visage whilst adding two unblockable hits to their great attack. He may find himself in the Bloody Mummer Skirmishers to use their ability stripping attack to get past pesky rules that may restrict his mutilation. A very good, and welcomed attachment for the Boltons. 

That is all that has been revealed so far with the developer stating there will be more to talk about in the following week. We will review anything new released from CMON when they show more stuff to us. In the meantime, I want to hear from you all about the changes and what else you would like to see changed. 

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